A Brief Overview to Writing A Comparison/Contrast Essay Similarities and Differences

1. A Brief Overview to Writing A Comparison/Contrast Essay Similarities and Differences

2. Comparison-and-Contrast Essay at a Glance Introduction Conclusion Restates the main idea or draws a conclusion Subject A Only Subject B Only Both Subjects • Identifies the subjects being compared • Tells the purpose for the comparison RUBRIC A successful comparison-and-contrast essay should • identify the subjects being compared • establish a clear purpose for the comparison • include both similarities and differences and support them with specific examples and details • follow a clear organizational pattern • use transitional words and phrases to make the relationships among ideas clear • summarize the comparison in the conclusion

3. Brainstorm Brainstorm everything you know about each subject and then go back and look for connections that show similarities and differences.

4. Develop a Thesis The thesis statement will evolve from the brainstorming. Look at your list and ask yourself some questions. • "Is there something important, significant, or interesting in the similarities and differences on my list? • What have I discovered about my two topics?"

5. Weak Thesis Statements • They are both somewhat alike and somewhat different. • I can see some similarities and some differences too. Strong Thesis statement Although Sally Strict & Larry Lax are both respected teachers at our school, their teaching styles and expectations for students differ significantly. BE SPECIFIC about the elements you are comparing/contrasting

6. Dogs Degree of dependence on owner Eagerness to please Trainability • Cats • Degree of dependence on owner • Eagerness to please • Trainability

7. Organizing the essay There are two primary ways to organize the body of your paper: • the divided pattern/ subject-by-subject • the alternating pattern/point-by-point

8. Divided/Subject-by-Subject Comparison A subject-by-subject comparison is, in effect, two separate essays about the same subject. Of course, the essays are linked with a transition and cover the same points. For example, to compare and contrast dogs and cats, you might organize your information in the following way: Introduction: Thesis statement - Even though dogs and cats are both popular pets, they have vastly different characteristics that require owners to deal with them in different ways.         Dogs Point 1: DependentPoint 2: Eager to pleasePoint 3: Easily trained         Cats Point 1: IndependentPoint 2: Indifferent about pleasingPoint 3: Not easily trained         Conclusion: Restatement of thesis

9. Alternating/Point-by-Point Comparison: When you write a point-by-point comparison, you write about each major point for both subjects before moving on to another main point.     Introduction: Thesis statement - Even though dogs and cats are both popular pets, they have vastly different characteristics that require owners to deal with them in different ways.         Degree of dependence on owner                    Dogs                    Cats         Eagerness to please            Dogs                 Cats         Trainability             Dogs              Cats         Conclusion: Restatement of thesis